RELEVANCE AND ENGAGEMENT
Advanced accounting is a challenging topic. We have adopted a number of techniques in our book to make the material relevant and engaging to students. These techniques include:
Focus Companies for Each Chapter
Each chapter incorporates a “focus company” for special emphasis and demonstration. We chose companies that illustrate the topic of the chapter so that students can learn the material within context. In addition, our chapters on governmental accounting are written around a small New England town that is large enough to effectively communicate the concepts of governmental accounting, yet small enough not to obscure those concepts in unnecessary complexity.
The following are the focus companies we use to introduce our topics:
- Consolidation chapters—AT&T, Novell, American Apparel, Comcast-General Electric joint venture
- Foreign currency, derivatives and consolidation of foreign subsidiaries—Newmont Mining, Coca-Cola
- Government and NFP—Town of Acton, MA and the American Red Cross
- Segments—3M Company
- Partnerships—Boardwalk Pipeline Partners, LLP
Real Company Data in Text and Assignments
We believe that an important part of the learning process involves the application of concepts to real-world data. We include references to actual footnotes in the body of our text and also include a number of end-of-chapter problems that are written around actual footnote disclosures. These problems allow students to think about accounting concepts more broadly (i.e., less mechanically) and from the perspective of the users of financial statements.
The following is a typical example:
Practice Insight Boxes
We provide a number of Practice Insight Boxes resulting from interviews with practicing accountants and financial managers. These boxes provide students with insight into issues that accountants face in the real world, and with a glimpse into the types of decisions that practicing accountants must make.
The following is a typical example:
Mid-Chapter and Chapter-End Reviews
Advanced accounting concepts can be challenging. To reinforce concepts presented in each chapter and to ensure student comprehension, we include topic reviews that require students to recall and apply the financial accounting techniques and concepts described in each chapter.
Readability
Our text is written with rigorous content, but in a student-friendly conversational style that facilitates the learning process. Previous textbooks by the authors have met with extremely positive reviews for writing quality, and students who have used our textbook comment on the relative ease with which they are able to assimilate the material.
“This book was very engaging and simple to follow, which made for a more enjoyable class! The examples and exhibits do a great job supporting the text to better retain the information.”
Moises Numa— Audit Associate, Deloitte
CLASS-TESTED CONTENT
Prior to publishing the first edition of this text, we tested drafts of our text in our own courses for two years. As a result of feedback we received from our students at Babson College and Indiana University, we made substantive revisions to the text. We also received substantive input from many faculty members at other colleges and universities via in-depth reviews of preliminary drafts of our text and participation in focus groups. This edition of our text reflects substantial revisions that we made to reflect this input.
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